


In Nitrous Veritas

by KaenOkami



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Caretaking, Comfort, Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Alive, F/F, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nothing Hurts, Surgery, Wisdom Teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 11:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20638310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaenOkami/pseuds/KaenOkami
Summary: When her girlfriend has to be put under anesthesia for the first time, Paimon is a nervous wreck thinking of what might go wrong. She doesn't stop to consider that everything could go perfectly right, in more ways than expected....Or, the one where having her wisdom teeth removed unlocks Hakuei's full gay potential.





	In Nitrous Veritas

**Author's Note:**

> I had my own wisdom teeth yanked about a month ago so of course I spent my recovery indulging in best rarepair

Paimon still looked very suspicious at her lack of concern.

“Hakuei, they are going to yank your bones out with pliers.”

Hakuei resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance. Again. 

“It’s _fine,_ Paimon. I’m just getting my wisdom teeth out. It happens to everyone, no need to worry. And no need to press so hard on the gas, either.”

“Yeah, the turn’s coming up right there,” added Hakuryuu from the backseat. “And they don’t use pliers, they use...regular stuff.”

Paimon grumbled unintelligibly as she pulled into the office parking lot, but didn’t say anything else until after they had filed into the oral surgeon’s waiting room, checked in, and sat down. She fidgeted in the rough cushioned chair, one Ren sibling on either side of her, and after a few minutes opened her mouth to say something else. 

Accustomed to this after weeks of her poor girlfriend’s fretting, Hakuei laid a hand on top of hers and murmured before she could respond, “I’ll be fine, hon. Don’t worry.”

“...I’ll worry anyway. Routine or not, anything could go wrong, you’ve never been under anesthetic before!” Her lips twitched as if she wanted to chew at one, but she resisted the impulse. “It could be like that movie — you know the one where they cut Anakin Skywalker’s heart out? Or that one _X-Files_ episode — ”

“Hakuei Ren?” the nurse said from the doorway, and Paimon jumped as if she had shouted it. Hakuei gave her a quick peck on the cheek and squeezed her hand, before letting it go and standing up. 

Hakuryuu, earbuds firmly in, lifted his head from his notebook to nod to his sister as she crossed the spacious waiting room. “Good luck.” 

Hakuei gave the two a reassuring smile as the nurse led her into the hall and closed the door behind them. The last thing she saw before it shut was Paimon, swallowing a whimper as she watched her go, and she felt a small pang of guilt in her chest. Maybe she shouldn’t have tried to brush off all Paimon’s fears so easily...But it would be fine. When she got out of surgery, she’d make up for it somehow.

~0~

For the next forty-five minutes, the waiting room was in a sluggish state. Patients passed through, but Paimon barely saw or heard any of them. The rapid, muffled tapping of her heeled boot against the carpeted floor as her leg bounced nervously was unceasing. She had tried to distract herself with her phone, but an email notification from her own doctor’s office made her jump, and she’d shoved it back in her pocket where it stayed. That was the last thing she needed right now.

Having drifted out of awareness of her surroundings so, it took a few calls of her name before she recognized the word and looked up.

“Hey.” Hakuryuu held a Hershey bar in one hand and a Snickers in the other, and was offering the latter out to her. One earbud was still in, the other hanging loose over the front of his sweater, and she could hear the faint strains of violins streaming from it. “You hungry? Because you’re not acting like you.”

Paimon rolled her eyes as she accepted the candy. “Great. Hakuryuu’s a comedian _and_ Hakuei’s ignoring me now.”

Hakuryuu snorted as he sat back down and returned to his science notes. “Don’t be dramatic.”

_“You_ are the _last_ person I want to hear that from,” Paimon declared with an aggressive bite of her Snickers. 

Hakuryuu gave her a ‘that’s fair’ tilt of his head, but pressed on anyway. “She knows you love her, and that’s why you worry. She knows.”

“Hmph. Never thought I’d see me more worried about her than you.”

“I’ve had mine out already, and I can rest in the assurance that it can’t possibly be as bad as my operation was,” Hakuryuu reminded her, grimacing. “I’ve always had issues with anesthesia, and they were all in there so damn _deep._ It hurt so much that even my mother didn’t have a joke to make about it.”

Paimon, who had repeatedly borne witness to Ren Gyokuen’s great love for making fun of her sons, immediately understood the significance of this. 

“And I’m trying to be less panicky in general, anyway. Hakuyuu says it isn’t good for my blood pressure,” he continued, with the haughty tone and slight upswing of the head he always took when repeating the words of his older siblings. It never failed to sound as if he were quoting a sacred text, and it never failed to make Paimon stifle a laugh. Now was no exception.

“...What?” Hakuryuu’s brows furrowed in confusion and mild offense. “Something _funny?”_

“No, no, nothing, I was just, uh...thinking maybe I shouldn’t have brought up Anakin Skywalker to prove my point?” she offered.

“Oh. Well, you should still do what Yuu said, too. It will probably help.”

“Fine, fine,” she said, trying not to smile. “Fine, then. I’ll try to relax. Get _my_ blood pressure down.”

“You promise?”

“Hell no,” said Paimon immediately, taking another nibble of her chocolate and knowing better than to make a promise she couldn’t keep. 

And it was well that she did. Not two minutes later, a nurse opened the door again to inform them, “Miss Ren is in the recovery room, if you’ll come with me?”, and Paimon inhaled the remainder of the Snickers bar as she leapt to her feet, eyes going wide.

Hakuryuu rose more slowly, and asked the nurse as they proceeded down the hall, “How did she do?”

“Oh, just fine. She’ll be pretty loopy for the next few hours, and she’ll need you, Miss Naifeh, to look after her closely until the effects of the gas wear off.”

Paimon nodded vigorously, heels clacking on the tile floor. “I can do that.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s all she wants to do,” Hakuryuu added, slipping his earbuds case into his pocket with one hand and patting Paimon’s shoulder with the other. Not as nice as Hakuei shoulder pats, she decided, but it would do. “Walk, don’t run, okay?”

Paimon nodded again, but that did not stop her from jumping when the nurse opened the door to a side room and she could see Hakuei, looking considerably less together than she had when they had arrived. She was lying like a wet leaf against the large padded doctor’s chair, the room’s only real feature, with vacant eyes and a mouthful of red-stained gauze. She had _known_ that this was how she was going to find her, but she still had to quickly bite her lip to keep from yelping.

The nurse stayed with them as they stepped inside, and with all three of them in there, it was something of a tight squeeze. Paimon heard her talking, Hakuryuu responding and shuffling around with something, but she barely registered any of it.

“Hakuei?” she said, stepping up to the chair. “Sweetie? Can you hear me?”

Hakuei twitched at the sound of her voice, and her head roved slowly around to its source. Her pupils were so huge that Paimon could barely see the rim of blue around them.

“Ohh...” she breathed, somehow both clear and dazed. “Oh, you’re so _pretty.”_

She said it with such awe that Hakuryuu snorted behind his hand and Paimon felt her face heat right up.

“Uh...Yeah,” she responded intelligently. “You are, too.”

Hakuei nodded slowly, as if this was a brilliant point. “Who are you?”

“H-Huh?!” Paimon startled. “Me? You know who I am!”

“No need to be alarmed, miss,” the nurse said, while Hakuei gave her a supremely puzzled look. “She got quite a heavy dose of nitrous oxide, so I told you she’ll be out of it for a while. But it’s not at all permanent.”

“Oh...” Paimon shifted her feet nervously. “So what do I — ”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes. “Just _talk_ to her. You — ”

“You’re _beautiful,”_ Hakuei cut in loudly, as if she couldn’t hear or see anyone but Paimon. “Who _are you?”_

Paimon found a smile on her face in spite of herself. “I’m Paimon,” she reminded her, loud and clear. “I’m your girlfriend.”

Paimon hadn’t thought it possible for Hakuei’s eyes to go any wider, but go wider they did, as her mouth shaped into a perfect O of shock. The nurse promptly reached over to nudge the gauze back into place, but Hakuei didn’t seem to notice.

_“My?_ You’re _my_ girlfriend?!” 

“Yeah,” Paimon blurted again. Hakuei was a naturally affectionate person, but Paimon was still wholly unused to being gazed upon like she was a divine being. “Yeah, I am!”

_“Ohhh.”_ Her hand twitched over towards Paimon’s on the arm of the chair, and Paimon took it and held it delicately in hers. “Oh, that’s amazing. That’s just amazing!”

Paimon giggled, surprising herself, and it was easy to slip back into a familiar teasing, loving tone. “Nooo, _you_ are.”

“No, _you,_ you’re...!” Hakuei shook her head so hard in defense of her point that she swayed dizzily for a moment, her face turning slightly ashen. “Oh, whoa, don’t like that...” 

Paimon took her shoulders in her hands to still her. “Hey, it’s okay. Just relax, I’ve got you.”

_“Wow,_ you’re an angel...!”

“This angel’s here to take you home, come on...”

“Home?” Hakuei staggered a little, as she was helped up out of the chair. “We have a _home?”_

“Yeah. You put all those ceramic vases and flowers and weird pattern wall blankets everywhere. You think it gives the place character.”

_“Does_ it?” Hakuei asked, eyes big and bright as the blue galaxy painting in their bedroom.

Truthfully, Paimon could take it or leave it, on its own. Her eye was for fashion and body art, not interior design. But all the stuff kept Hakuei in their home even when the woman herself was gone, and the calm that brought Paimon surpassed beauty.

“It’s the best place in the whole world.”

Hakuei made a soft, comforted chirruping noise at the back of her throat. Her legs were gelatinously shaky and her arms hung in the air in front of her like a T-Rex’s, as Paimon guided her back down the short hallway back into the waiting room. She seemed more interested in trying her best to fall against Paimon’s side than she was in walking.

“Oh...Oh, you are just a _wonder,_ you are...” Hakuei was nuzzling at her neck and collarbone, while Paimon and Hakuryuu waited at the checkout desk listening to the receptionist’s short spiel about post-surgery care. Despite the newly limited ability to move her mouth and speak coherently, she was determined to keep talking. “Did I tell you about that before? I should.”

“Yeah, of course you have,” Paimon assured her, knowing damn well that that was not on Hakuei’s extensive list of sweet words, while trying to keep up with the receptionist. “Yeah, we got the painkiller prescription — she can eat that soon? Then yeah, I can start her on liquids when we get home, so — ”

“I’m glad. I _should,”_ Hakuei said again, sounding fascinated by the very concept and still blissfully ignorant of all that was not Paimon. “I can’t tell you anything through all these...fluffy peanuts in my head...”

Then, if Paimon had been paying attention, she would have noticed the expression that suddenly struck Hakuei’s face: that of one who has just been visited with a life-changing epiphany. And she would have seen it coming when Hakuei’s head shot upward to kiss her far harder than was probably intended, right on the jawline.

“Oof!” Paimon stumbled for a moment, her arm reflexively tightening around Hakuei’s waist. Hakuryuu and the receptionist both glanced up in concern, but quickly shifted to trying not to laugh at Paimon’s predicament. “Take it easy on me, honey.”

Hakuei gave her some truly devastating puppy dog eyes in response. 

“You mean I can’t kiss you through these fucking peanuts either?!” she cried, and Hakuryuu went red and burst into laughter.

“Shh, yeah, those have got to stay in, babe. I’ll take care of all the kisses for now, too, okay?” Paimon said through her own fit of giggles, planting one on Hakuei’s cheek to prove it.

Hakuei whimpered. “Didn’t even _feel_ that...”

“All set,” Hakuryuu managed, while he fiddled with the phone in his slacks pocket some more. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Feel better soon, Miss Ren!” chirped the receptionist, waving with a set of long cyan nails, and Hakuei spun around so fast Paimon was momentarily afraid she’d fall right out of her grasp. 

_“This is my wife!”_ she shouted, and it damn near echoed off the waiting room walls. The elderly lady in the corner said nothing, but did grin into her knitting magazine. Hakuei, on the other hand, kept at it: “This is my wife Paimon! She’s the best _ever!”_

From Hakuryuu’s gleeful snickering as he one-handedly held the door open for them, Paimon could only assume that the look of shock on her face was truly priceless. “N-No, honey, remember? I’m your _girlfriend.”_

Hakuei just grinned, entirely unfazed, and Paimon had to stick the gauze back into position in her mouth yet again. “Oh? Then I’ve still got to _make_ you my wife, huh?”

“Huh?!” Oh, Paimon had to put every bit of focus into not tripping straight over the curb on that one. 

“Yeahhhh...” In all the years they’d known each other, Paimon had never seen such a smug smile on Hakuei’s face. She was partially remembering how to work her arms, and using them to cling to Paimon’s waist in a vice-grip of a hug, which would have been nice if it didn’t mean they were in danger of falling all over each other as Hakuryuu brought her car over to the edge of the sidewalk. “Paimon, I wanna marry you!”

Paimon was very grateful that she didn’t blush, because she felt her cheeks burning something _fierce._ “Not saying I don’t agree with you, hon, but — ”

“You don’t want to?”

“No, I’d love to, honey, I just...” Paimon sighed, as she dislodged her girlfriend from her waist and bundled her into the passenger seat of the car. “Let’s just save that question for when you’re sober, okay?”

Hakuei glared up at her as sharply as she could, edges dulled as they were by copious amounts of drugs. “I’m not _drunk!”_

“No, you’re not, my mistake,” Paimon laughed. “Just wait until we get home, then, okay?”

While she got in, took the wheel, and started to drive them out of the medical park, Hakuei busied herself pawing at her empty jeans pocket. “Where’s my phone? I’ll get us home...”

Hakuei’s phone was, as per her sober request that morning, lying safely on their nightstand at home, where it could not be used to send any potentially embarrassing messages. “I know the way, hon, don’t worry.”

“Would you drop me off at the mall first, though?” asked Hakuryuu from his new seat in the back. “I promised Judal I’d meet him there.”

While Paimon agreed, mentally calculating their new route, Hakuei’s head jerked backward, looking shocked to realize that there was someone else with them. “Oh! I’ve met you!”

Hakuryuu grinned. In the rearview mirror, Paimon noticed him holding his phone upright. “Yeah, you do know me. Who am I?”

Hakuei’s face screwed up in concentration. “You’re...we have the same name.”

“Not quite. What’s my name?”

“Uhh...Haku...yuu?”

_“Nooot_ quite,” Hakuryuu snickered. “You missed a letter.”

“No, I didn’t! I have a brother Hakuyuu!” Hakuei froze, and then let out a dramatic gasp. _“Oh my god, I have brothers!”_

Hakuryuu’s raucous laughter filled the car, and Paimon was struck with another giggling fit. “Yes, you do, babe,” she said, grinning as she turned onto the expressway exit. “You’re getting your memory back fast.”

“I _lost_ those?!”

“Don’t worry about it.”

~0~

After dropping Hakuryuu off at the mall food court, where he was excitedly ushered over by Judal (waving with both arms to make up for his huge mouthful of cheesy pretzel nuggets), Paimon got back on the expressway towards their apartment complex. Hakuei’s father, bless him, had offered to at least assist in paying their rent. But it wasn’t an exorbitant luxury place like the Ren family home, and between both of their jobs, they managed expenses well enough on their own. Hakuei had always been a little embarrassed about being born a rich girl, and Paimon would have felt weird too, asking for handouts from her future father-in-law. 

In-law...

Paimon glanced over at Hakuei, now quietly whimpering to herself in the passenger seat as she tentatively poked at her own sore jaw. They had talked about their love before, of course, how could they not? They were both fairly free with affection in their own ways. But they’d never really talked about marriage, and she was wondering now if that had been a mistake, just drifting along like that after all these years. Hakuei hadn’t gotten drunk enough to spill her guts like that since college, and laughing gas wasn’t exactly like alcohol. Still, _in vino veritas:_ maybe Hakuei had had more on her mind lately than Paimon had realized. More than she was willing to let on...

When they parked in front of their building and left the car, the gas had worn off not completely, but just enough to make Hakuei aware that there were now four bleeding wounds in the back of her mouth. “Ungh...Paimon...”

“Shh, it’s okay, honey. You’re walking great, just stick close to me...”

The stairs to the third floor were slightly perilous (the ascent made poor Hakuei dizzy again), but with some more clinging and low moaning they made it through the door. Their bedroom was at the back of the place. With one quick stop to the freezer for ice packs, Paimon guided Hakuei there and laid her gently down on the neatly made covers, the throne of pillows she’d put together that morning to keep her head elevated. She tucked a soft throw blanket over her, and leaned down to lay a kiss on her temple.

“There. You okay, sweetheart?”

Hakuei’s eyes were still dark and hazy, pupils dilated with the residual high. But as Paimon continued to tend to her — removing the blood-soaked gauze and replacing it with clean folds, wrapping a neck pillow around her head to hold the ice packs against her jaw — they glittered with starry affection while she tried to smile up at her. 

“‘Mmm fine..._You’re_ fine...You’re...”

Paimon ran gentle fingers through Hakuei’s loose hair, warmth swelling in her chest. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, you know that?”

“Aww, you’re just _saying_ that!”

“Oh, no, I mean it. You just rest now, okay? I’ll be checking on you to change your gauze and ice, so don’t feel like you have to wake up for it, okay?”

“Soon?” Hakuei murmured, body limp and eyes drooping shut as Paimon got up and turned the light down. 

“Yeah. I’ll be back soon.”

She couldn’t sleep off the pain, sadly; they had been informed that Hakuei was in for about a week of recovery time. But she could sleep off the hold of the gas, and while she did, Paimon made herself busy. 

She left the bedroom door halfway open so she could keep a watchful eye on her sleeping beauty, as she set about doing the morning chores that she had been too fretful to do in the actual morning. She dusted and Magic Eraser-ed, did the dishes, mopped the kitchen and bathroom tile. Somewhat unnecessarily, too, she arranged the food in their fridge (none of which was anywhere near old or spoilt enough to toss) and triple checked to make sure that she had all the ingredients necessary to fix up some soft meals, ice cream, and smoothies to soothe her girlfriend’s ailing mouth, when she felt able to try and eat. She had enough to snack on herself, as well.

So when there was nothing more to occupy her brain, Paimon sat on the freshly dried kitchen counter to work through a small bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream, liberally drizzled with chocolate sauce, and finally let herself dwell on the thoughts she had been trying to avoid. 

She and Hakuei had lived together for years, and been together even longer. They had settled into a comfortable routine, and life wasn’t exactly a lazy river (that was impossible, between both their families), but it was _great._ Content and loving. Paimon had never felt anything more _right_ in her whole life than coming home to Hakuei’s open arms. Of course she intended to stay by her beloved’s side for as long as she was welcome there; she no longer cared to imagine her path going any other way. So why did the thought of making their bond official — making it _legal_ — send such a ripple through her body?

The first theory she hit upon was that she was just taken by surprise and blowing it all out of proportion. Again. Life, especially _their_ life, was no cheap whirlwind romance, no trashy drama. Even in their families, that was a reach. Exactly what kind of disaster was she expecting the words “Hakuei, will you marry me?” to bring? 

Barring storm, fire, terrorist attack, runaway semi truck — no, no, no, she was already starting to feel her pulse pounding, she had to stay realistic here. The worst thing that could conceivably happen at their wedding was Hakuei’s mother getting wine drunk at the reception, either sobbing all over her only daughter or starting a fistfight with her twin and having to be dragged out by her sons, and to be wholly honest the former was likelier than the latter. 

And if she was being wholly honest, they were _good_ at this stuff, if having a healthy relationship could be considered a skill. Sharing responsibilities, working out disagreements, supporting one another, simply finding happiness in each other...They had it pretty well down, in her opinion, as well as any two people could do. Their feelings for each other weren’t set to change anytime soon, no matter what they did with their lives.

Thoughts of death and disaster she would banish from her mind one way or another. Her future brothers-in-law were right: it would do nothing but raise her blood pressure, and she refused to ruin this relationship with a premature heart attack of all things. It was change, that was all. A big one, but a natural one. Looking at it as rationally as she could, perhaps it wasn’t quite as big a hurdle to clear as she had feared it might be. Perhaps it was no such thing at all.

A small noise from back in the bedroom drew Paimon’s attention, and she set the half-finished bowl on the counter to go and attend to her beloved.

Hakuei was still lying out on the bedcovers, awkwardly holding her head and tensed in every muscle. The pain must be starting to make itself known, Paimon realized. 

She stepped softly up to the bedside, taking a moment to remove the gauze before reaching down to lay a gentle hand on Hakuei’s shoulder. “Hey. How’re you feeling, hon?”

Hakuei murmured incoherently for a moment, before opening her eyes a fraction and trying yet again to smile up at Paimon. It was a shaky attempt, but passable. “Sober.”

Paimon laughed. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Hurts — my mouth and head hurt a lot — but the cold is nice. Really nice,” she explained drowsily. 

“We’re going to be replacing those every twenty minutes, okay? And you just tell me when you feel up to me fixing that bowl of ice cream you ordered this morning. You need to take your medicine with food.”

“Okay...”

“Attagirl. You mind if I come down there and hang out with you?” When Hakuei gave her a short and careful nod, still wincing when her swollen jaw did not agree with the movement, Paimon settled down on the covers next to her and reached her arms questioningly out. “In the mood for a cuddle, or are you gonna puke on me if I touch you?”

Before she was even finished talking, Hakuei was already snuggling up to her as closely as her ice-wrapped face would permit. “I would never. Am I too cold?”

“Not at all. Don’t you know you’re always warm?”

Hakuei hummed contentedly at that, and they laid in silence for a long while. Paimon was just starting to feel her eyes droop and her body turn numb and heavy, when Hakuei’s voice woke her back up again.

“Paimon?”

“Mm? Yeah?”

“Thank you. For taking care of me today. I...think I was trying to say that before, when you were bringing me home, but it didn’t come out quite right.”

“Oh, honey, no need to thank me for that. I’ll always take care of my girl.”

“But that’s just the point. All you’ve been doing is being worried about me, and I was just brushing you off like you were annoying me...” Hakuei nestled closer up to her, eyes turned guiltily down. “You weren’t, I was just — ”

“Shhh.” Paimon ran a hand over her hair, from head to ends. “It’s okay. In hindsight, I’m sure I was laying it on a little thick.”

“You care about me. You want me to be safe. I shouldn’t treat that like...like...”

Paimon kissed the top of her head. “Hey. You’re going to have to get used to telling me when I’m being too much of a worrywart, if you’re going to spend the rest of your life with me.”

She had spoken without thinking, and a much more pregnant silence fell on top of them.

“...Yeah. You’re right.”

“Hakuei...Do you remember what you told me? When you were, uh...high?”

Hakuei snorted. “I remember thinking you’d descended out of heavenly light just for me. Did I say that out loud?”

“Well, you did call me an angel, so technically yeah. But...the other stuff. About wanting to marry me.”

“...I said that?”

“Yeah. Really loudly, too, actually. The waiting room was quite amused.”

Hakuei made a breathy noise that was trying to be a nervous laugh. “Do you ever think about it? I’ve...been thinking about it a lot. What it would be like to call you my wife.”

The words, soft and sweet from her love’s voice, felt like fingers playing lightly down her neck and spine. They stopped her breath for a moment, sent a frisson of shock over every inch of her skin.

“I like that,” she said faintly, her tongue feeling as if she’d just run ice water over it. “I love you.”

She never wanted Hakuei’s arms to loosen their grip from around her waist. “I love you too. No matter what we do, I love you. So...let’s sleep on it for a while? Then talk when we’re both wide awake. And my mouth’s not numb.”

Paimon wrapped her arms more snugly around her, one around Hakuei’s shoulders and the other around her hip. She ran her fingers over Hakuei’s hand, imagining what it would be like to feel a warm ring on that left hand. Her ring. 

“Sleep on it. Yeah. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

“...At least until my ice melts and gauze soaks through.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll set an alarm for those...”

~0~

“Did you thank your Aunt Sheba for driving you two back home?”

“Yes, Mother. Every time.”

“Good boy.” Gyokuen did not turn from her vanity mirror even while addressing her son, briskly running a comb through her loose hair. “And more importantly, did you get that other little task for today done? All of it?”

Hakuryuu smirked, leaning back against the doorway of the master bedroom. He took his phone out of his pocket and waved it triumphantly. “Oh, absolutely. Recorded every last second of it. It definitely beats Yuu and Ren’s wisdom teeth videos, that’s for sure.”

Gyokuen grinned. _“Good_ boy. Her surgery was just wonderful timing; this year was so dry in decent content for the New Year’s video reel.” 

“You still might want to save it, though. I’ll take a boring family party show over passing up the chance to show Hakuei’s original proposal for the first time at the wedding reception.”

Gyokuen laughed. “Yes, of course! She _really_ did that?”

“Oh, she did, just like I told you. Paimon may or may not have noticed that I was taking a video, but Hakuei and the nurses sure didn’t.” Hakuryuu’s smirk broadened. “They had a No Recording sign up in the recovery room. I was breaking the _law_ for you, Mother.”

“Yes, well, you know how much I appreciate a flawless crime,” Gyokuen agreed with a snicker, as she set the comb down and reached for her hairpins. “It really is about time one of you went ahead and gave me a wedding to plan. Hakuyuu isn’t an option, but what’s holding you and Hakuren back?”

Hakuryuu rolled his eyes. “Because Ren is still playing will-they-won’t-they with his roommates, and Judal has made clear his intentions to propose to me with a Ring Pop and I know that if he tries that you’ll kill him.”

“Indeed I will, his father be damned. My boys deserve finer.”

“And I don’t recall either Hakuei or Paimon saying they’d let _you_ be in charge of any part of it.”

“Ridiculous. I am the mother of the bride, of course I’ll be involved.”

“You know,” Hakuryuu said slyly, “Hakuei _might_ have mentioned something about wanting Aunt Arba to run the show instead.”

Gyokuen’s head snapped around so fast that Hakuryuu swore he heard a crack in her neck. Her glare was made twice as unsettling by one eye bare and the other turned sharp by mascara and liquid eyeliner. “Don’t joke with me, boy. I _will_ kill her if she does anything to ruin this.”

Privately, Hakuryuu was fairly sure that for once, Arba was not the more threatening Abraham twin here. “Mother, do _not_ kill Aunt Arba at Hakuei and Paimon’s wedding.”

“Of course I won’t,” Gyokuen scoffed, returning to her makeup. “Not without reason, at least. We will _all_ ensure that my darling’s wedding is perfect. She’s not likely to have another one, after all.”

“...You’re aware that she hasn’t technically proposed yet, right?”

“Well. All the more time to plan, then. Now, you head off, but text your father too: we’ve had this dinner in the books for weeks and he had better be on his way home to pick me up for it.”

“Yes, Mother,” said Hakuryuu, detaching his back from the doorway and starting to make his way to his bedroom. 

“And call your sister!” Gyokuen called after him. “Make sure she’s feeling all right.”

_“Yes,_ Mother,” he called right back, from the stairway at the end of the hall. 

On the short walk, in which he sent the instructed text to his father and was satisfied to receive a “Driving — Do Not Disturb” automated message, Hakuryuu considered whether or not he ought to be making that call tonight. It was before the hours when such a thing would be considered rude. But then again...

He sat down at his nearly arranged desk and woke his phone with a soft click. The lock screen behind the open keypad had been the same for months on end: Judal with a delighted grin on his face and his long arms thrown around Hakuryuu, the two of them pressed cheek to cheek. The barely visible background was simple blue sky and trees; the second Judal noticed Hakuryuu’s camera open, even a simple walk in the park could and would turn into a combination cuddle-fest and photo shoot. 

Judal would hold him tight, never seeming to get close enough to fully satisfy him, and pepper his face with kisses. Hakuryuu, for his part, could never seem to stop smiling. Nor could he quite put a finger on the feeling that washed over him at times like this, but words like security and love came to mind. Whatever it was, he was quite certain that his sister was feeling it too right now, miles away and safe in Paimon’s arms, and he would not intrude on that for the world. Once, he hadn’t thought that he would be able to trust his only sister to anybody. Now, he knew he would be perfectly happy to see her given away to Paimon.

Tomorrow, then, he decided, setting his phone face down on his desk and beginning to dress down for an evening of reading. His disturbance of their peace could certainly wait until tomorrow morning. 

~0~

The next day, Paimon had an afternoon shift and Hakuei had, of course, taken off. So the pair of them only blinked awake in the late morning, both roused by the soft buzzing of their nearby phones.

Paimon worked her dry-tasting mouth for a moment, as Hakuei retrieved her phone from her nightstand. “Ugh, God, we slept in our clothes...”

“So we did, but it’s not going to kill us.” Hakuei squinted at the bright screen, winced at the soreness still in her mouth, but half-smiled at the message she saw there. “Oh...Good morning to you too, Hakuryuu.”

Paimon smiled as she unlocked her own phone, following a second notification about the update on her medical chart. “You gave _him_ quite a time yesterday t — oh...”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“I...” Paimon’s smile had slid off her face as she read the doctor’s message, and she sighed. “Remember my last checkup? When they looked at my throat? It looks like my adenoids...are going to have to come out.” 

“Ah, I see.” Hakuei paused. “You’re nervous about this, too?”

Paimon looked down abashedly at the bedspread. “I...A little. I mean, it’ll hurt, and I’ll have to take more time off, and you know, they’re gonna go in my mouth and cut pieces out of my throat...”

Hakuei listened intently, and then leaned over to delicately kiss her cheek. “Whatever happens, I’ll take care of you this time. You can count on that. Now, is there anything else you're worried about...?"


End file.
